polishing supplies

[millikan]

I have a small mobile detailing company. Recently I decided to market my business to polish aluminum rims, tanks and other trim on semi-trucks.
However my only experience polishing metal has come using store bought chemicals(mother's).

With this in mind, I would like to know the bare minimum equiptment and supplies that I may need to do a good and efficient job.

Also, I have a porter cable 7336 RO polisher, and I was wondering if this would be any good to polish truck rims. thanks..

[gagnon]

Hi there milikan,

your brave to start offering polishing service with so little experience. I suggest that you practice on a scrap part before attacking your clients parts. When you do semi-truck parts you will need portable tools because normally parts are too big to handle. So I suggest flexible shaft or a industrial drill (12amp+) will do just fine.

Depending on the condition of the part
start with emery/spiral 8" x 1/4"stitch
then tripoli/spiral 8" x 1/2" stitch
finally blue moon/flannel 8" x 1" stitch

If the part is in good condition skip the emery step.
good luck.

P.S. hope you are not hangry about my first comment, I just don't want you to get in major trouble because of inexperience. One of my friend did the same thing like you and lost major money, he started to offer his service in polishing with little experience. And one day he got a antique job in polishing, he damage one part. Guest what the part was very rare, and the client decided to sue i'm... imagine. what a story.

[millikan]

thanks for the reply internet,

I'm not angry at all at your comments. I do agree with you 100% as far as getting practice before actually jumping into the fray. At this point in time I'm actually into the "research stage" if you will, and have no plans to actually go and polish any metal(s) as of yet.

Thanks for the info. One question though. How long do wheels last?